European Vaccination Card will be piloted in five countries – Vaccines Today

A European Vaccination Card will enable informed vaccination, according to experts working on the EUVABECO project. Latvia, Greece, Belgium, Germany and Portugal will pilot the new tool from September.

Despite decades of awareness, zoonotic diseases those transmitted from animals to humans continue to pose a significant threat to global health.[1] In the face of the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, our global lack of preparedness for such outbreaks became starkly apparent.

However, it also sparked a surge of innovation, leading to the rapid deployment of multidisciplinary approaches and new technologies that helped us understand, treat, and protect against the virus, ultimately bringing the crisis under control.[2] These innovations included new medicinal products, such as vaccines, as well as advanced tools like those for modelling and forecasting.

As Europe transitions from emergency measures to long-term COVID-19 management, there is a critical opportunity to strengthen resilience and increase preparedness for future health threats. The European Vaccination Beyond COVID-19 (EUVABECO) project seeks to leverage this momentum by initiating pilot projects to develop and test implementation plans for tools that support both routine and crisis vaccination practices.[3]

One key tool that EUVABECO will introduce is the European Vaccination Card (EVC).[4] Scheduled for launch in September 2024, the EVC will initially be piloted in five pilot countries: Latvia, Greece, Belgium, Germany, and Portugal. The card aims to empower individuals by consolidating all their vaccination data in one easily accessible location. It will be available in various formats, including printed cards, mailed copies, and digital versions for smartphones.[5]

Consider the example of Anna*, a 27-year-old nurse who recently moved from Bremaria* to Morvania* with her family. In her new country, Anna needs to provide her vaccination history to comply with local regulations. Using the European Vaccination Card (EVC), Anna can seamlessly transfer her records. She goes online, creates an EVC account with the provider of her choice, and enters her vaccination data from Bremaria.

Anna also needs to create an EVC for her son, Lucas*. She sets up his EVC using her account, transferring information from his paper child health book. Both EVCs are then validated by her doctor, an authorised EVC health professional in Bremaria. This digital record becomes accessible via her smartphone, simplifying the process of sharing it with healthcare providers.

During their first visit to Dr. Mller* in Morvania, Anna presents Lucass printed EVC. With Annas consent, Dr. Mller scans the EVCss QR code, quickly updating Lucass vaccination history in the local system. This seamless process ensures Lucas receives the necessary vaccinations according to Morvanias schedule, allowing Anna to efficiently manage both her and her sons vaccination records.

The EVC empowers individuals like Anna to take control over their own vaccination records, revolutionising vaccination management and ensuring a healthier future for all Europeans. This citizen-centred method of storing and sharing data, rather than relying solely on public health systems, was made possible by the Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN).

Developed during the COVID-19 pandemic for the EU Digital COVID Certificate, the GDHCN is now managed by the World Health Organization, enabling the authenticity of digital vaccination records to be ensured.[7]

EUVABECOs pilot projects aim to pave the way for other countries by harmonising vaccine terminology, developing a common syntax, ensuring adaptability across different healthcare settings, and refining EVC implementation plans. These plans will be publicly released in 2026, extending the EVC system beyond the pilot phases and enabling broad adoption across all EU Member States.

In addition to the EVC, EUVABECO is creating plans for several other innovative tools: a clinical decision system that provides vaccination recommendations, a screening tool to identify and invite vulnerable populations, an electronic Product Information Leaflet (e-PIL) to enable the transfer of vaccines across countries without having to repackage them, and a modeling and forecasting tool to assess the impact of public health interventions.

By leveraging the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and fostering innovation in vaccination management, Europe is taking crucial steps toward a more resilient and health-secure future.

For more information about the EUVABECO project, visit the project website.

*All names and places are fictional

Authors: Sally Jackson, Francois Kaag, Alain Cimino and Dace Zavadska.

[1] 2020 United Nations Environment Programme. Preventing the next pandemic. Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain of transmission. [report] (https://unsdg.un.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/UNEP-Preventing-the-next-pandemic.pdf, accessed July 8 2024).

[2] European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Drawing light from the pandemic. A new strategy for health and sustainable development. A review of the evidence for the Pan-European Commission for Health and Sustainable Development. [report] (https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/345027/9789289051798-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y, accessed July 8 2024).

[3] EUVABECO Project [web portal] (https://euvabeco.eu/, accessed July 8 2024)

[4] Publications Office of the European Union. Provision of options and recommendations for an EU citizens vaccination card [report] (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/111d0610-1c41-11ed-8fa0-01aa75ed71a1/language-en?WT.mc_id=Selectedpublications&WT.ria_c=69089&WT.ria_f=7230&WT.ria_ev=search&WT.URL=https%3A%2F%2Fhadea.ec.europa.eu%2F, accessed July 8 2024)

[5] EUVABECO. European Vaccination Card (EVC): A citizen-held card to foster informed decision-making on vaccination and improve continuity of care across the EU. [news story] (https://euvabeco.eu/news/european-vaccination-card-evc-a-citizen-held-card-to-foster-informed-decision-making-on-vaccination-and-improve-continuity-of-care-across-the-eu/, accessed July 8 2024)

[6] European Commission, European Health and Digital Executive Agency, Provision of options and recommendations for an EU citizens vaccination card. Annex 2, Design and testing of three dual templates, [report] (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/da6517a7-de58-11ed-a05c-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-search, accessed July 8 2024)

[7] World Health Organization. Global Digital Health Certification Network [web portal] (https://www.who.int/initiatives/global-digital-health-certification-network, accessed July 8 2024)

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European Vaccination Card will be piloted in five countries - Vaccines Today